Whenever Christmas Holidays are coming over, there are always mixed feelings. Feelings of happiness and sadness, feelings of something missing or that you have everything you need, feelings of discouragement or being fulfilled, and so on. But what Christmas really feels like for me, is different from a year to another.

I know that I already shared a summary of the feelings most likely everyone gets around Christmas, but I would lie by saying that every year it's the same.
Of course, there are the kids who are always waiting the whole year for the winter to come just for the sake of going sledging, building snowmen or creating the angels in the snow that most likely each of us tried at least once.
However, since not everyone is celebrating Christmas on 25th December, nor does everyone know what snow truly feels like, I thought about creating a different kind of post on this day that is so special for me, having a double celebration actually.
I won't get into religious details such as the definition of Christmas the internet or bible is sharing with us because through this post I would like to rather share some thoughts and feelings than the explanation most likely all of us are aware of.

So, to start with the beginning, I and my family, and I'm not talking only about my sister and my parents; grew up in not a big family but where from the beginnings we were taught to love each other and always be as close as possible even if physical was not always possible but at least to spiritually feel that emotion given by being surrounded with people you are loving and you can be sure on receiving their love back.

Even if my cousins are a tad bigger than I and my sister, namely 7 and 10 years older, that never stayed in front of creating a beautiful family where everyone is equal and will never feel alone.
Of course, the childhood games were not missing since I am part of one of the last generations that enjoyed growing up without meeting technology at an early age, so everyone made sure to help us create beautiful memories that will last forever in our minds and hearts.
At the beginning of this post, I said that Christmas had a double meaning for me, namely, that my cousin is born on the 25th of December and which always made the holidays a lot happier, this 2nd celebration making us never miss a chance to gather together and share gifts to each other while playing with the snow, listening to carols and other usual things that most likely everyone had part in their lives during this time of the year.

This kind of double-celebration was a tradition for us which was not missing even after my cousin decided to go work abroad and he wasn't able to return to Romania during the holidays. Here's where technology played a good part in our lives since videocall became a thing that managed to get us closer to him and feel him like he was there with us, sitting on the table and cutting slices of the cake for each member of the family.

Though, this thing did change when the pandemic started and we weren't allowed to gather together, nor we wanted to do it since we were not unconscious to risk our health or of our loved ones, so it's already the 3rd year in a row when we are celebrating holidays in a lot smaller party, with I, my sister, our parents, and my boyfriend.

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Along with time spent with family which most likely everyone is used to do during the holidays, there are also the presents which even though not everyone affords purchasing, there are also those things you can offer such as love, care, joy and smiles, that count a lot more than a nicely packaged box, and which have a stronger power to bring a smile on a person's face.

Personally, when Christmas is approaching, I feel a bigger urge to start placing orders on different websites for either I or my loved ones, so along with the mentioned things that you can offer but never buy with money, each of us contributed more or less to have some guilty pleasures resting under the Christmas tree, which sooner or later were opened. 🎁

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But Christmas do have a lot more meanings than these. For example, it's also the moment when you can forget about the cold weather and have a walk on the way to the Christmas market from your city (or from a different place), that has that magic feeling which can't be compared with any other period of the year.

The one we visited, was the Christmas Market from Sibiu, which is also where we are living for already 2 years now, and which did win some important titles as the 5th best European city to visit, or one of the most beautiful Christmas Markets from Europe, so if you want to visit it, do keep in mind that you will find lots of people. I visited this place for 2 times and every time I did hear at least 3-4 foreign languages being spoken, so I guess it's worth being visited, right? 😀

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Unfortunately, with the pandemic still going on, the access is restricted and the single ones who can enter it, are those with a green certificate of COVID, but from what I heard, during the New Year Eve when there is also going to be held a show with a Romanian band, the access will be free for everyone, no matter if they have the vaccine or not. A pretty stupid decision if you are asking me, but hopefully the people will wear a mask and there won't be too many who will get infected. 🙁

There are a little over 100 chalets where each of them is covering a specific field of things that you can buy, such as jewellery, traditional clothing, sweets, Christmas decorations, mugs with brands of cars or superheroes, wine and other hot drinks to warm up, burgers, and so on. But along with these, you can observe a big Ferris Wheel which can be accessed by anyone (not only by those who got the vaccine) and from where you will get a nice view over the whole market. Unforunately, everytime we visited this place, there was a long queue of people waiting to get a ride, so we decided to postpone this for the next time.

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The Christmas Market was opened on 15th November, and at the end of the month we got visited by our cousin and her parents, hence why, there are some pictures with all of us, but we also visited this place one more time when a friend of I and my sister came over to see the market.

Though, as travelling is part of my nickname here and part of every family's members' lives, we couldn't be missing the chance to also hit the road and visit some place which were not unknown for I, my sister and our parents, but which was a good excuse to return to these along with our relatives who had a lot of fun seeing something new.

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The first stop was at the Castle of Clay that we first met more than 5 years ago when it was still under construction, but where we couldn't enjoy the full experience nor in 2021 due to the many people who were visiting it. I was kind of surprised to see so many people after more than 5 years since it was promoted and tourists could visit it, the whole agglomeration contributing on a less beautiful experience because I felt like my attention was partially focused on the people who were constantly talking and moving all over the place like tiny ants.

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Not too long after we arrived, the snow also started, so we decided to better hit the road again on a place where we could be sure that the snow won't be missing and which I also wrote about in 2019, called Paltinis. This is a pretty magic location that is beautiful any time of the year, not only when everything is covered in white or when the slopes are ready for winter sports, but this is also quite crowded starting with December when many people go skiing.

However, let's not get too far from today's post subject and let's get back to the Christmas vibes, which also mean having lights all over the house, and the specific sweets and decorations which do add a personal touch to your basic room or places you are spending most of the time on.

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Personally, I keep the lights during the whole year because I absolutely love having ambient light in the house, the Christmas tree and decorations being the single ones that are going away in March, because yes, I do like keeping it as long as possible, especially that it's an artificial tree.

Chrismas also means playing games, watching comedy movies on TV or the Home Alone series that everyone is seeing over and over again and it's still not getting tired of.

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But the winter holidays are also a good excuse to eat more sweets than usual and wear those socks with Santa, candies or reindeer which are absolutely lovely, no matter how young or old you are! 🎄

Another feeling that I receive almost immediately when I think about Christmas, is the smell of an orange being just opened, but also of the sweet bread that I tried cooking for the first time in this year, and which I will create a separate post for, because the results were so tasty! ❤️

Anyway, as many meanings we can give to the Christmas Holidays and along with all these mentioned that could be a lot more but I don't want to turn this post into a very long one, there are also these moments which are literally impossible to be counted in words, presents or moments, such as meeting your family and spending time with your loved ones, hugging each other and being grateful for having one another for one more year, but also to realize that a holiday should not be the main reason to see your family again or write a Merry Xmas message to someone you haven't talked with in a while, because life will never wait for us to have these special holidays to do it.

That's probably a good reason why there are people out there that are not loving holidays anymore since they are not having who to embrace or to share these words with, so for those of you who is not too late to do it, don't hesitate to show your love to the special persons from your life, and for the other half of the people, don't forget that you are never alone and have safe and beautiful holidays! 🤗

Merry Christmas everyone! 🎅

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